Roadtrip.....

Since I doubt anyone is going to be building a Taj Mahal in my memory once I die, I decided to go see the real thing...  So we drove 4 hours to Agra in order to see the Taj Mahal since it's 1 of the great wonders of the world.  We left at 4am and were at the Parking lot outside of the East Gate by 8:00am.  Once we got out, we decided to get on a cart pulled by a camel.  Yes, we sat in a Camel cart and we were moving at snails pace.  We were all laughing at how stupid the camel idea was, seeing as it took us longer on the camel then if we were to have walked. 

Once we got off the camel, we still had to walk another quarter of a mile to get to the security gate of the Taj.  The line to get through security was pretty long and it was really hot.  We were only allowed to take 1 bottle of water per person through the gates.  It was over 90 degrees and the sun was literally burning my skin.  I had never felt that type of heat in my existence, but the fact that I was in front of the Taj Mahal was enough to make me forget about my burning skin.  Our tour guide was giving us great information as we walked up the pathway leading to the actual resting place of Mumtaz Jahan and now Shah Jahan.  The tour guide had us stop for pictures and we snapped quite a few. (I will have to remember to load them this week).  In the process of our pictures, I somehow knocked over a potted plant and it fell down onto some other plants on the lower portion of the concrete.  I thought I was going to be the first person in the history of the Taj Mahal to get tossed out before even going inside the actual place...  Lots of people saw it, but the men with the rifles didn't so I was in the clear.  We moved along as if nothing ever happened and the view as we approached the Taj was somewhat ethereal.  I literally felt like I was looking at a picture with the perfect blue sky and a few scattered clouds as a backdrop.  It was when we went up the steps at the Taj Mahal and walked into the final resting place of the emperor and his wife.  As soon as I walked into the darkened area an atrocious wafting smell attacked my senses.  I could literally taste the air and even a sip of my water didn't help.  The water started to taste like the air and I felt faint.  I told the group that I was going to step outside b/c I couldn't handle the smells.  The group actually agreed with me and wanted to step out themselves.  The tour guide had no choice, but to follow us out.  Then we were in the blistering sun at 11:30am and I got dizzy and felt light-headed.  I think it was dehydration, but even drinking more water didn't help.  The water had been boiled in the sun so you can taste the plasticy grossness from the bottle.  We then decided to leave b/c I thought I was going to pass out.  I swear I had never felt anything like it.  My skin was burning and I couldn't breathe properly.  It felt like someone was holding a ton of hot bricks against my lungs and I couldn't take a deep breath.  We finally made it out of the doors and back to the car.  I drank an entire bottle of chilled Aquafina water that the tour guide went to find for me...  I felt so much better in the air conditioned car.  We were all sweaty, tired, and ready to go home.  However, we decided to stop at a really nice restaurant for lunch before we made the 4 hour journey back to Delhi.  The place was interestingly called "The Taj Mahal Restaurant" and as soon as we were seated I knew I was going to be ill.  The smell of 'Kesar' mixed with 'saffron' (the only way I can describe it) was in the air and my senses went into overdrive and I had to storm out of the place.  I guess others felt the same way, but no one spoke up.  When we were outside we all agreed to just start the 4 hour journey back to Gurgaon/Delhi.  I definitely felt better knowing we were headed home.  Thinking of Gurgaon as home was odd, but whenever I see that Courtyard Marriot logo it makes me breathe just a tad bit easier.  Needless to say I got back to the hotel and slept for more than 20 hours and would have kept sleeping if Diana didn't bang on my door until I actually stumbled out of bed and answered the door......  That was one road trip that I could have done without.  I had heat exhaustion and I was severely dehydrated.  We got some some Gatorade and food in me the next evening and I started to feel better.  After this trip, I have decided that I am not going to be hanging outside for over 3 hours straight in 90+ degree weather...  Nothing here is THATimportant...

The Tree of Life...ugghhh

So we decided to take our first trip to the Gurgaon movie theaters.  Ummm, that in itself, was quite interesting.  We purchased our tickets and then had to go through some metal detectors.  Once that happened, they went through our purses and took our gum and cameras that we were carrying.  Instead of a coat check, they have a 'item' check.  I can't believe they confiscated our gum...hahaa  Then a lady patted each of us down which was so strange b/c she got REALLY personal.  I mean, we all agreed it was more like groping than a patdown.  Dude, I'm going to watch a movie, not get on a plane...geez!!!  Even the TSA never gets that touchy-feely with us. 

So we get inside and they have fresh hot corn (off the cob) and they will add any flavoring/masala that you request.  If you have ever had the corn here, you would understand that it totally made up for the groping we had to endure...hahaa 

So the movie we watch is called the Tree of Life.  The reason we had to go see an American flick is b/c neither Diana nor Lisa knew Hindi and the Hindi films don't have subtitles here in India.  Sucks!!!  The Tree of Life was about the theory of evolution which I was okay with, however, this movie made me want to gouge my eyes out.  How can a movie with both Brad Pitt and Sean Penn be this horrendous.  Half the theater walked out by the 'intermission' and the other half, including me, were talking and laughing through the remainder of this travesty.  Yes I know that it won the award for 'Best Independent Film of the Year' at Cannes, but I don't know how is voting for this shit.  Rotten tomatoes has it at about 84%/85% which is mind-boggling.  Needless to say we needed drinks after all that nonsense so we headed over to TGIFridays and tried to figure out what we had just seen.  I wouldn't willingly sit through another showing of that movie even if they told me that I would meet Brad Pitt afterwards and that's saying a lot!!!!!!!!!!!  #thirdworldpains

Chandni Chowk to China!?! Nope, it's Gurgaon to Chandni Chowk!!!

So Saturday morning, August 6th, I woke up around 1pm totally ready to begin my day, or so I thought.  Once we had lunch we headed to Chandni Chowk.  It took over an hour to get there b/c there was so much traffic.  Along the route, we saw these guys coming up to the cars and selling books.  Of course Diana, who was almost finished with The Help, wanted a new book to start so she rolled down her window and got bombarded by like 4 guys...hahahaa  She finally settled on a book and we talked them down and finally got it for about 300 rupees (which was still too much).  Definitely inflated prices b/c she was American.  Anyhow, then a guy knocked on my window and asked me to buy a 'bouncy ball'....hahahaa  All three of us said NO!!!  He is like maam, bouncy ball...bouncy ball maam... I'm like, "mujhe nay chahiye," but he was insistent until we finally started moving again and even then I heard the faint sounds of 'bouncy ball'.  All I could think was that we were 3 grown women, no kids and why the hell would we want a bouncy ball!?! hahahaa 

The traffic was just unreal.  If anyone knows India traffic, there are no signals and it's pretty horrid as it is.  This particular day it was even worse.  I guess it's b/c Independence day is coming up and they have started putting security in place.  We finally got to Chandni Chowk and had to jump out of the car in the middle of the street b/c there was no place for the Marriot driver to pull over.  Thank god he had a cell phone and we could call him when we were ready to leave!  I don't know what I expected in Chandni Chowk, but I doubt words could do the experience justice. 

I was literally dripping sweat as we made our way through the narrow street, from stall to stall.  It reminded me of the Swap-o-rama flea market in Alsip, but crammed with 10,000 more booths in that space.  We almost got hit by a bike rickshaw and a moped!  I don't know why they allow those within such a small space.  You have to literally jump aside.  Nuts!!!  The smell was indescribable, trash was everywhere...People passed out on the sides and dirty/stray animals roaming around.  Even with all the grossness we are going to go back there since Lisa wants to experience it for herself and she had not gotten to Delhi in time for her to come with us.  I will definitely try and take some pics on our next Chandni Chowk outing so you can kind of see what it is like. 

Imagine 100 degrees/humid and then a breeze.  The breeze isn't what you would think.  It feels like you're sticking your face up to the tailpipe of a car.  That hot exhaust is what the blowing air feels like.  So whenever we take an open rickshaw, it's like having a blowdryer constantly in your face on the medium heat setting...gross!!!! 

While making our way through this dreary, but colorful looking place known as Chandni Chowk (colorful due to the fact they have lots of saris, bangles, jewelry, etc... and dreary due to the fact that there is barely any light since everything in awnings that have been there for what looks like centuries.  People (who look like they haven't bathed or had laundry done in 5 years) are cooking food at the front of their stalls or on top of counters, basically all over and it's so unsanitary.  We refused to eat anything there b/c everything around us was so filthy.  We waited until we got back to the Marriot in Gurgaon that night to order food and we ate the food at the bar and had drinks.  We basically shut the bar down, but it was so nice after the craziness we experienced...hahaa  Oh and my bar tab was like $45.00 (4 mojitos).  Definitely comparable to being in the States even though it's a third world country....hahahaa

Needless to say it was an awesome day with such an interesting experience and I can't wait to try it again.  This time around I won't be wearing flip flops though...hahaaaa

-Nisha

My First Day of Work...

It is currently Tuesday morning, 9am here in Gurgaon.  I have to keep reminding myself of the time b/c I'm so screwed up with it.  My laptop says 10:30pm since it's synced to CST.  Oh well...  Anyhow, the office was interesting.  Everyone is super nice and they came over to introduce themselves.  They thought I was only here for 2 weeks, but when I told them 2 months they seemed really happy.  I'm sure it's b/c they have me here to pick my brain until they are comfortable in their new roles.  They seem like a really smart bunch, eager to learn which is nice b/c we have a lot to cover once they know the basics.  I get them for the intermediate and advanced sessions so I told them to soak it all in b/c we have a lot to learn in the next 2 months!  They seemed quite thrilled about it.  More power to them!!!  So that was only 1 of the 2 groups I'll working with.  The other one I will actually be working to get adjusted to the different processes and we have and systems we utilize.  It's going to be one heck of a feat, but I think I'm up for that challenge (keep your fingers crossed).  I will also be overseeing the knowledge transfer b/w 4 groups of offshore teams (2 current teams in Banglore that we're transitioning things away from to 2 new teams here in Gurgaon) and making sure the transition is seamless.  So far we've hit a few bumps along the way, but at least we're still moving...

The office itself is pretty big and there are so many people going in and out.  It seems like party central there.  I had 2 conference calls yesterday and  could hardly hear a thing.  So much going on and you can barely get anything done there with the level of noise.  I travelled to work and back yesterday with 3 others and they informed me that it's like this all the time and really hard to get anything done there.  I would have to totally agree.  2 of them work when they get back to the hotel, but I refuse to do that.  I need my sleep.  I'll just take my ipod in tonight to drown out the noise while I'm not conducting any training sessions or on conference calls.  This way I can actually get stuff done without distractions.  Working from home 5 days a week spoils you as far as silence and you forget that an office environment can get quite loud.  I think I just found it odd that everyone is so cheerful at like 1am in the morning without any liquor in them... I was yawning and ready to find the nearest bed which was back here at the Marriot!!!  I think that next week I'm shifting my schedule to make it 5:30 to 2am so I can be home by 2:30 and in bed by 3:30am at the latest. 

So, I got home at 3am and got on webcam with the parents.  I do miss the family.  I miss my little monkey (Ishaan) most of all.  I have him as my wallpaper on the laptop so I get to see his adorable face all the time, but I'd rather see him on webcam (hint hint Angela!!!).  So I hit the sack at 4am and got up to use the washroom around 7:30am and can't go back to bed.  This is horrible b/c I need sleep or I won't make it through another 6pm to 3am shift and I actually have a couple trainings scheduled today!

Oh and when I left the office around 2:30am it was like 100 degrees and ridiculously humid.  It should be against the laws of nature to be so disgusting at that hour of the morning.  So glad I got the Keratin treatment b/c my hair didn't frizz or turn into Monica Gellar hair like it normally would have!!!  Definitely worth the $150.00 if it will last for the 2 months that I'm here...  Yay!!! 

Anyhow, I'm so tired and probably babbling as usual.  I'm going to give this sleep thing another try, but I doubt it will happen.  It looks like high noon in Gurgaon.  Guess I'll put my eye mask on to drown out the light.   Oh and Bubble Boy is on, but there is NO sound!!!  WTF!?!  This is one of my fave movies and I've seen it at least a half dozen times.  If you fools haven't seen this movie, it's a must. 

FYI : I won't be getting my blackberry until Friday so until then it's G-chat, webcam or email!!! 

Anyhow, good morning/good night or whatever it may be!  Later fools!!!

-Nisha

P.S. These pics are ones I took at 8am of the view outside my hotel room.  Definitely hard to sleep with it being so light out...

My First Lunch at MoMo Cafe...

I would just like to say that I had my first lunch at the MoMo Cafe downstairs.  The food was pretty good.  I had some amazing Palak Paneer and some yummy basil fried rice.  Oh and I can't forget the bottled water.  So I get the bill and it's $1,351.51.  That's a freakin' $32.00 lunch... Sick!!!  I don't know how my company thinks that the per diem they are giving me can last through the day at these rates, but $32.00 just for a buffet lunch of which I literally had 5 bites of (b/c I'm a bit queasy), is crazy!!!  I'm definitely going to go grocery shopping this week and get stuff since I refuse to pay for the other meals at this rate.  Thank god this one is comp'd. 

Anyhow, it's almost 2pm here and I have a few hours until I have to be ready for work so I'm going to check out what else the hotel has to offer.  I'm sure whatever they have will probably cost my right arm...hahaaa

Later!!!

-Nisha

Finally made it to Delhi/Gurgaon...

So I'm finally here!!!  It's 10:30pm on Sunday night here in Gurgaon.  The plane ride from Frankfurt to Delhi seemed to take forever.  I watched 3 tv shows, 2 movies, slept and still had time to spare.  I never realized how good Glee was until this plane ride!!!  I think I'll need to get the previous seasons and watch them once I'm back to the states!  I watched Patiala Ghar (Akshay Kumar, Rishi Kapoor, etc...).  It was a cricket movie.  As the desis call it, it was time pass!!!  I also watched Gnomeo and Juliet.  I fell asleep towards the end. It was pretty lame to say the least!!!

Anyhow, I literally started dripping sweat the moment I stepped off the airplane at 2am.  It was quite ridiculous to think it could ever be that hot, let alone that hot at 2am!  I cannot even imagine how horrible afternoon is going to be..ughh  The distinct desi smell that wafted through the air, you Indian folks know exactly what I mean, was quite overwhelming.  The airport, however, was really nice.  It took forever to get from our gate to the baggage claim.  Once I got my baggage and got out, there was a man holding a sign with my name on it so there was no guessing as to who or what I'm supposed to be looking for. 

The hotel is pretty nice and room here is pretty awesome.  I'll have to take pics and post them.  I have 2 almost-full size beds in here instead of 1 king bed.  I'm not going to complain b/c the view outside my room is pretty nice.

So I checked into the Marriot here and got situated around 4am IST.  I finally fell asleep after the sun rose and I basically slept the entire day away.  I was interrupted around 8am when someone delivered a crazy hanger contraption that was left for me at the front desk and I assume that was from Melissa who decided I could use it.  Sad that she had to leave 6 hours before I got here.  It would have been cool to have her here to hang with.  Oh well.  By the time I woke up after the mini interruption it was almost 7pm.  I had missed breakfast and lunch of which 1 of the meals (of my choosing) is free, per the agreement set-up by my company.  I was about to order room service for dinner and looked at the prices and laughed.  A flippin' burger comes out to 12.00 American.  Ewwww, it totally reminded me to the Miller High Life commercial.  "You must be out of your freakin' mind charging 11 bucks for a burger"...  Would love for them to do a commercial here at the Marriot in India.  All I remember from my trip to India in 2007 is that food is ridiculously cheap so the 'Indian' in me refused to pay the 550 rupees for the burger even though I would have paid the 12.00 in America.   So instead, my cheap-butt had one of the granola bars I brought with me so I could take my medicine.  I guess I'll just have to make sure I don't miss lunch tomorrow.  Oh yeah, the restaurant does serve beef on the menu which I find interesting, but then again we're not in Gujarat so it may be acceptable here...

So, it's 11pm here and I'm going to hop into the shower so I'm out for now.  I'll keep you all posted on how my first workday in Gurgaon goes.  Work doesn't start until after 6pm so I've got the day to get accustomed to the idea of actually working.  I wish this was a real vacation and I didn't have to work...hahaa

Later fools!!!

-Nisha

Guten Tag...

So I'm chillin' in the Lufthansa Business Lounge here in Frankfurt, Germany b/c I have 5 more hours until my connection to Delhi leaves. 1pm is the earliest flight from here to Delhi, but I'm not going to complain since the Lufthansa Business Lounge has everything I need.  I have definitely made myself comfortable here...hahaa  It's much better than the 2 hours I spent in the United Red Carpet Lounge at O'hare.  That pales in comparison to this... 

United Airlines Business Class was just all right.  Yes, I was able to sleep comfortably, but I think it's a waste of money.  Paying 3xs more just to be able to sleep comfortably for 8 hours is ludicrous, unless of course you have money to waste...hahaa  

Anyhow, it's 60 here in Frankfurt this morning and I'm in heaven!!!  This is weather I can deal with...  Too bad I'm headed to 99 degrees with high humidity.  Too bad we don't have an offshore group in Europe...hahaa

Oh well, I guess I'm going to stop babbling and go watch Friday's episode of GH on YouTube.  Love the Internet!

Guten Morgen to all!

-Nisha

Ishaan is coming to........

TOWN!!!!!!!!!!!!

So, my favorite person on the entire planet will be here in a bit over 24 hours.   Can't even tell you how excited I am to see my little monkey!!!  I can't believe he'll be 1 in less than 2 weeks!  So the bbq planning has been great.  So much to do, but he is worth every little thought and detail we're putting into this.

I booked the bounce house w/ slide combo.  It's 16x16 castle with a 20ft slide, yes it's almost $100 more than the other one, but I think it will be worth every penny since the adults can enjoy it as well.  Not sure if alcohol and a 20ft slide will be a good mix, but we'll find out on the 16th!!!  Since my little monkey will be too small to utilize the bounce house, I ordered the jump-o-lene for him and Aiden to play in.  I saw it at my cousin's house and thought it was the coolest thing for kids.  I'm hoping they will love it!!!  Also, Achu got this pool thing with the balls that, from the way she described it, sounds like loads of fun for the little munchkins!!!   

I decided on a popcorn machine w/ cart and a snoe (yes I spelled it right) cone machine w/ cart and finally got them confirmed.  It'll be great to have those in the backyard during the bbq for the people to enjoy.  Of course, I had to do nachos as well.  I mean, if we were going to have popcorn we definitely need 'movie theater' style nachos w/ jalapenos!  I opted out of the cotton candy maker due to the fact that we will be having enough sugar at this bbq to last a lifetime!!!  As usual we have waaaay too much food.  About a dozen appetizers and we keep coming up with new ideas.

So with 57 people confirmed, to date, the backyard is going to be mighty busy!!!  Absolute fun, none-the-less!!!  I'm still waiting on some RSVPs, but don't expect it to be more than 70 people. 

I hope everyone has the time of their lives and I'm glad that everyone gets to share the day with Ishaan, but honestly I would have been just as happy spending the day relaxing with my little monkey!!! Hahaa

Part-time Annoyances...

Part-time Annoyances...

As most of you know I have a part-time job that, up to now, I have enjoyed.  I initially took on a part-time job a little less than 3 yrs ago b/c I purchased my 2009 Corolla in Oct 2008 and wanted some additional income.  I never really needed to keep a part-time job, but I choose to have one so I could continue to do all the things I loved without having to divert any portion of my funds elsewhere.  The part-time job basically took care of my $400 car payment and my $200 cable/internet/landline payments which was awesome!  With that, I'm happy to say that my 36 months of car payments will be ending in 2 months!!!  I can't believe how happy I am to not have a car payment anymore...hahaa  Can't believe I've made over 18k in car payments over the last 36 months.  Anyhow, I planned on working part-time for 1 year max, but somehow I couldn't make myself leave at the end of that first year.  I met so many wonderful people and a few that rubbed me the wrong way, but I genuinely enjoyed what I was doing so it really didn't matter. 
Now, the pettiness and lack of professionalism have started to annoy me.  Even though I've been appalled at some of the antics, from minute 1, I went in there and did the job I was hired for and more.  Yes my ears were filled with high school level drama taking place amongst adults, but I let it in one ear and out the other.  As most of you know, I'm pretty chill so other people's flair for dramatics just makes me laugh and pity the people in their lives...hahaha   The things they say and complain about don't effect me, but I think I'm at the point where I don't even want to bother with some of these people anymore.  Too many great things going on in my life to have to walk into a part-time job and deal with workplace nonsense becasue people don't want to do their jobs.  If some of these staff members spent as much time workig as they did complaining and gossiping, the place would be run like a well-oiled machine. Hahaaa  I thank the good lord above that my primary job, the career I absolutely love, does not have foolishness like this going on...because our clients deserve better than that.

I do feel a bit better now since my sister weighed in on the issue and pointed out that not everybody had my work ethics (I put in a minimum of 200 hrs per month for my primary) and that I should just nip it in the bud.  Something I already planned on doing...hahaa  With that said, I will definitely be scheduling a talk with the boss lady to determine where this breakdown in communication is occurring, if we can get some consistency to my scheduling in all locations, and if I'm still a good fit for this position.  Lots to think about over the next few months....

Enough of the high school level drama... I'm leaving for Gurgaon in 3 weeks and still have a whole list of items to take care of.  Oh and my favorite little monkey will be here later this week and he's staying for 10 days!!!!!!!!!!!  Yaaaaay.... I believe I'm the happiest Masi on the planet and cannot wait to spend ridiculous amounts of time with him.  It still has not sunk in that he will be turning 1 on July 19th!!!  He may whine to get his way, but he's still the most perfect little thing that God has ever created...I may be a bit bias. hahaa   I will start a new post b/c I don't want the part-time 'drama' to taint all the 'wonderful' things I have planned for Ishaan's party.

Later!!!

Reminiscing...

So today I attended a friend's shower and had no idea I would be running into people I have not seen in over 10 years.  It was so surreal.  Just reminiscing about our old college experiences, the people we still kept in touch with, and the things going on in our lives made me wish I was 18 all over again.  I really miss the days when the most difficult question was, "What should we do now?" 

I graduated from UIC in May 1999!!!  Seems like a lifetime ago, yet some of the memories are as clear as if they had happened yesterday!  Learned a lot of things, met enormous amounts of people, and definitely got into tons of trouble(can't take the blame for all of it)!  However, the one thing that didn't happen, and it has become abundantly clear over the last 12 years, is that college never prepared me for the real world... 

No one ever told me that I'd eventually have to dedicate a minimum of 8 hours to anything, but sleep... 
No one ever told me that the Freshman 15 would eventually turn into the 'full-time' fifty... 
No one ever told me that I'd go from seeing my friends a min. 5 days/wk to once every 5 years, if that...

Instead of forcing me to take those ridiculous Spanish classes (which wasn't even a real help to me while I was in Spain), I wish they would have made me take a course on 'real-world' experiences.  Just saying...

Anyhow, I have to be in Lincolnshire at 6am so I'll have to save my, "If I knew then what I know now, I would have..." (This should take up about 15 pages...hahaa) for another post!

Later!
-Nisha

ODE TO RUPAL...

Today you woke up without an alarm clock or single noise 

It's b/c you had to rush to the washroom to change your Poise

With the minty smell of your ben-gay still lingering in the air

You step in front of the mirror to evaluate that graying hair

Oh, don't worry dear Rupal because you haven't yet heard

You are the Hanover Park Denny's favorite, Early Bird...

They will serve you your favorites @4, with a smile on their face

And have you out of there, before the 20-somethings take over the place

So step away from that mirror and stop frowning at what you see

None of us Patel folk think you look a day over 33!!! (Hahahaaahaaaaaaa)  

Happy Birthday!!! 

-For those of you who don't know Rupal, strangely my entire extended family does, she's Ang's best friend.  Their friendship dates back to Ang's 'lawn mower' haircut days!!!  Hahaa  Oh and Rupal is not really 33...  (eets a joks)

As you can tell, I'm in dire need of sleep!!!  Later fools!!!

1 more month until I leave the country...

I can't believe that I am leaving for Delhi in about 1 month.  I still have so many things to take care of and I have not even gotten started.  I need to go take passport size pictures for my work visa and send them in tomorrow.  I haven't even gotten my shots!  At least my airline ticket and hotel are booked (totally taken care of by our global travel group) b/c if it was left up to me, it would probably still not be done.  I'll be blogging about my experiences while I spend 2 months in a third-world country...this should be interesting!!!

I'm hoping that I can handle Asia's monsoon season and 100+ degree temps during my stay.  It would have been wonderful had my company decided to train our offshore groups in Nov/Dec instead of June thru Sept.  A colleague of mine is there doing the systems training for DB June/July and I will arrive in Delhi 6 hours after she leaves to return home.  I get to cover Aug/Sept which will definitely be better in terms of weather than June/July.  I'm really looking forward to my weekends and seeing the Taj Mahal in Agra, Golden Temple in Amristar, and going to Jaipur.  I really want to visit Nepal and China while I'm in the region, but we'll see if time will allow.  I will be working from 6pm to 3am shift since it will be 7:30am to 4:30pm CST.  I'm hoping I won't have too much jet lag since I'll technically still be working according to Chicago time.

This is going to be quite an interesting journey so stay tuned...

-Nisha